The One With The Bullies
"The One With The Bullies" is the twenty-first episode of the second season of Friends, which aired on April 25, 1996. Plot Chandler and Ross enter the coffee shop and sit down on a sofa when two other male customers - Arthur and Carl - return from making orders at the counter and claim they are in their seats. Despite the muscular, powerful build of the two strangers, Chandler (most likely because of their formal, smart and well-dressed appearances in suits and ties) feels comfortable enough in their presence to make a joke regarding the incident, but Carl and Arthur seem to get the impression that he is mocking them, so Arthur steals his hat in retaliation. Revealing themselves to be nasty, unpleasant and potentially violent individuals they start bullying and intimidating Ross and Chandler whenever they see them and later when they see Chandler and Ross on the sofa again and demand that they get off of it, Ross both bemuses and amuses them by "telling on them" to Gunther. The bullies tell Ross and Chandler they are never to return to the coffee house unless they want to get beat up. Chandler and Ross eventually decide to face their fear and go anyway. The now more casually dressed bullies suggest they "take this outside", and while discussing the "rules" for the fight, they notice that other guys are stealing the valuables they had set aside for the fight. All four guys chase them down and the problem is resolved. Although Arthur and Carl decide to bury the hatchet with Chandler and Ross for helping them retrieve their stuff, Arthur still refuses to give Chandler his hat back, spurring Chandler to swipe it from him and make a break for it, only to trip over and fall down much to the bemusement of Ross, Arthur and Carl. Monica is down to the last of her savings and decides to invest in the stock market even though she knows nothing about it. She picks the stocks to invest in based on the letter combinations that stand for the companies. She eventually loses all her money and has to take an awful diner job where she has to dress up like characters from the fifties and dance on the counter. Phoebe tries to visit her biological father but several things go wrong. First, she can't get to the front door because their dog, a little Jack Russel terrier, tries to attack her. She, Rachel and Joey are stuck in the car until it is night. She decides to come back later but as she pulls out she runs over the dog. She takes it to the vet and brings it back to the house, meeting the woman who lives there. When she asks if Frank Buffay lives there she finds out that her father has abandoned this family as well. However, she does meet her half-brother,Frank Jr. and bonds with him a bit. Cast and Crew Main Cast Jennifer Aniston - Rachel Green Courtney Cox - Monica Geller Lisa Kudrow - Phoebe Buffay Matt LeBlanc - Joey Tribbiani Matthew Perry - Chandler Bing David Schwimmer - Ross Geller Supporting Cast Peter DeLuise - Carl Nicky Katt - Arthur Laraine Newman - Mrs. Buffay Giovanni Ribisi - Frank Buffay Jr. James Michael Tyler - Gunther Crew Directed By: Michael Lembeck Written By: Sebastian Jones & Brian Buckner Goofs *Ross claims at one point that nobody besides Monica has ever beaten him up before. However, in The One With The Mugging, Phoebe admits to Monica that she mugged a teenage Ross. (It could also be true that the trauma Ross had from this incident is such that he does not admit it to anybody, not even best friends Joey and Chandler). Counter argument: It could also be that while Phoebe had threatened and scared Ross, she didn't actually beat him up, therefore making his statement true. *When Phoebe returns the dog, a woman across the road walks to her door twice. *YMCA was played in the '50s diner despite the fact that it was released in 1978. *When Monica is dancing on the bar, she's between a guy wearing a red suit and a blonde woman with a brown jacket and white shirt; but on the last part of the credits she's between a redhead woman with black jacket and a guy with a brown shirt. *When Phoebe goes to visit her father, there is a little dog outside. Phoebe gets back in the car and the dog jumps up the side of it. When he finally gets part way through the window, the top of the dog-handler's head is visible through the car window. Episode Navigation Category:Season 2 Category:Friends Episodes